Homepage Connection Research newsroom

Industry’s First Green IT Training Program

Announcement posted by Connection Research 27 May 2009

Former Rivals Link up to Provide Industry’s First Green IT Training

Sydney 27 May 2009 EXCOM Education and Connection Research have joined forces to develop and deliver the industry’s range of Green IT training courses in Australian and New Zealand, with immediate expansion into international markets. The ground-breaking courses mark a cooperative effort between former foes in the IT analysis field.


EXCOM, one of Australasia’s largest IT training companies, is headed by Jim Watson, former Asia Pacific Managing Director for leading analyst group Gartner. Connection Research, Australia’s leading sustainability market researcher is headed by William Ehmcke, former head of rival Meta Group later acquired by Gartner. Connection was founded by another former Gartner analyst, Graeme Philipson.

The Green IT courses the two companies are developing are Australian firsts. “They fulfil a growing need for education in the Green IT space,” says Graeme Philipson, Connection Research’s research director. “We are the first to enter this area in Australia and New Zealand, with courses based on real local experiences. We intend to expand the courses’ coverage internationally.”

“EXCOM’s timing on offering this level of Green courses is ideal from an industry perspective,“ says Bob Hayward, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for CSC and AIIA Board Member. “Green IT is here to stay and organisations must be prepared to address a variety of regulatory, cost, and energy management opportunities and this training is one key vehicle to accomplish this.”

Three courses will be offered initially – a one day introduction to Green IT concepts and best practices, a two-day overview of Green IT planning and implementation, and a one day course on how to select a Carbon Emission Management Software (CEMS) tool.

“The courses will be based on the lessons we have learnt in our Green IT research,” says Philipson. “We recently surveyed over 250 Australian IT departments about their Green IT practices and policies, so we are very aware of the level of maturity – or lack of maturity – of Green IT in Australia, New Zealand and internationally.”

“Awareness of Green IT, particularly as a business efficiency and cost savings strategy, has been at the core of VMware’s success in the Australian and New Zealand markets,” says Paul Harapin, Vice President and Managing Director of VMware ANZ. “Many organisations consume as much as 50 per cent of their total power consumption just from within their IT infrastructure, and virtualisation is one of the most important things they can do to reduce their carbon impact. We are seeing a real skills shortage in this area, so new training, such as the specialised range of course EXCOM is introducing, is critical to help address this.

"It is very timely for a leading and reputable training organisation like EXCOM to be developing and delivering courses around Green IT to ensure that there is a growing group of resources able to take full advantage of implementing strategies to minimise the impact of IT on the environment, and to use IT to the fullest extent in this regard."

EXCOM has trained or influenced over 100,000 professionals since beginning in 1996. “We believe we are uniquely positioned to create and deliver on a whole set of industry first Green and Sustainability standards. Now more than ever our IT clients require preparedness and training for all aspects of this exciting and young industry,” says EXCOM’s Jim Watson.

The courses will be launched with an “Is your IT Carbon Ready?” roadshow in June – a series of two hour breakfast seminars that will explode some Green IT myths, outline the course contents, and provide clients with a Green IT training roadmap.

About EXCOM Education
EXCOM Education is an international and globally recognised IT technical training provider, with established education centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Singapore and Auckland. The company employs the largest base of certified trainers in the region and provides an extensive range of IT technical training courses and certification in Novell, Microsoft, Cisco, Linux, Citrix, HDI, VMware, EC Council, Checkpoint, ITIL and CompTIA technologies, to enterprise, commercial and government organisations.

For more information visit www.excom.com.auor contact Jim Watson on 0403 400 716

About Connection Research
Connection Research is an Australian market research and consultancy company specialising in the analysis of sustainability issues. Services are provided in Consumer and Community Sustainability, Green IT, Building Industry and Trades and Carbon and Compliance. Connection Research undertakes primary research (surveys of users, trades people, suppliers, practitioners), conducts market modelling analyses (combining our primary data with other sources) and consultancy in these fields.

For further information visit www.connectionresearch.com.au or contact Graeme Philipson on 0418 609 397